Linux Worth getting a second tuner?
#1
Started setting up TVHeadEnd on XBMCBuntu rig last night (about to upgrade to frodo but want all the back end setup first). Got the NTSC OTA EPG and all that set up. So far so good. (Have had it working in the past as well).

What I am wondering is if its worth buying a second tuner for my rig so I can record 2 channels at once or record and watch live tv. I currently have 1x HVR 1800 and am considering buying a second.
Does TVHeadEnd/XBMC play nice with 2x tuners? I only have OTA TV and won't be using this for cable anytime soon / ever.

What do you guys think?
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#2
I'm not using TVHeadEnd, but I would be quite surprised if it didn't work fine with multiple tuners. The decision on whether you need more than one, however, has much more to do with whether you want to record more than one show in a given time slot than it does with what software you use on the backend (or even the frontend for that matter).

For me (also using only OTA, ATSC, as I'm in the US), I need two tuners, because there's more than one show I want to record on Thursday evenings. Also, having two tuners allows you to record adjacent shows without losing the pre/post recording times.

I proved out the solution with a dirt-cheap KWorld USB tuner, and then bought an HDHomerun once I was convinced it would function well. It has two tuners, so I'm good to go.
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#3
Thanks for you input. The only real negative I could see is that I would have to remove my pci-e ati 5450 video card from the rig and go back to the onboard ati 3300 graphics (have hdmi out onboard). But I don't even know if its worth having the 5450 in there as I doubt it offers an performance advantage for just HD video playback. I don't have any free pci-e ports right now.
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#4
Tvheadend works fine with two tuners, probably more, but Ive only got two tuners.
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